Mihrab of the Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun

Adrian Dauzats was a French landscape and genre painter. Born in Bordeaux in 1804, he studied set painting. Dauzats was one of the first painters to embark on exploratory trips to the Middle East. In 1830, Dauzats went to Egypt with Baron Taylor, on an official mission to visit Pasha Mehemet Ali. Afterwards, they visited the Nile Valley, Cairo, and the Sinai desert (discussed in his book 'Fifteen Days at Sinai'), and then on to Palestine and Syria. These travels were a huge influence on Dauzat's future works. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Paris Salon.

Dauzats was a friend of Eugene Delacroix, who was an admirer of his work. It is said that Dauzat's work "reveals the art of layout, precise detail, combined with treatment contrasts, sometimes dramatic, light and perspective which, in addition to documentary value, give an aesthetic outcome of Orientalism". His works are represented in over 45 museums worldwide.

Works by Adrian Dauzats are quite rare on the commercial market, and this is a fine example of his immense skill. Dauzats has captured a real sense of depth in this work, which the light case across the scene, which glistens off the tiles and columns. This scene witnessed by Dauzats is caught forever in time: the worshipper is oblivious to us as he is at one with his prayers. Dauzats must have been moved by this devotion, relaying the beauty of the moment to the viewer of this artwork.